Partnership Cooperation

Cooperation involves working together to reach common goals and overcome challenges as a team. Cooperation in partnerships is related to the quality of the joint planning activities and initiatives that are shared between partners, such as joint business plans and quarterly reviews.

Cooperation is one of the Seven Partnership Success Predictors that we proactively monitor with the PartnerScore platform. So, if for any reason the cooperation in a partnership is perceived to be poor on either side of a partnership, users of the platform are made aware, so that steps can be taken to remedy the situation and get the partnership back on track.

But what steps should be taken if cooperation is seen to be low?

Recommendations to Vendors

From a planning perspective ensure there is, as a minimum, an agreed and approved annual business plan.

From an operations perspective, establish if there are any disconnects in the key business processes e.g. bids, price approvals, deliveries.

If distribution is a key part of the GTM and delivery process, establish how well this is integrated into the overall framework and measure performance. This requires an appropriate performance dashboard and must form part of the regular business reviews with the partner to establish business process disconnects.

Recommendations to Partners

Initiate an open and honest conversation with the vendor to discuss the cooperation issues. Share your concerns and encourage the vendor to express their perspective as well.

Clarify expectations and ensure both parties have a shared understanding of roles, responsibilities, and deliverables. This can help prevent misunderstandings in the future. Pinpoint specific areas where cooperation is lacking. It could be related to communication, responsiveness or quality of deliverables.

Use the PartnerScore dashboard to monitor progress. Highlight to vendor account teams if business processes are not optimised.

Other Success Factors

Find out what actions to take if any of our other Partnership Success Predictor scores are low or indeed what to do to maintain Cooperation scores of Acceptable or High in our guide to Navigating Your Partner Ecosystems.